Source Reduction – Advantages In Waste Management

Source reduction
has a very significant impact on a waste management system as it reduces both
the quantity and the toxicity of the waste. It helps to promote the efficient
use of discarded products and resources, as they have not been contaminated by
the toxic or contaminated waste removed at source. This saves the cost of
construction, operation and maintenance of centralized waste treatment and
disposal options. It has other beneficial consequences in relation to climate
change issues:

It reduces the consumption of energy through reuse of goods by
consumers and use of minimum quantities of materials in industry. This
leads to the production of fewer products, which ultimately saves the
energy require to collect raw materials, to produce the products, and to
transport them to the consumers.

Emission at treatment and disposal sites are reduced.

Pressures on vegetative cover and trees are decreased as source
reduction minimizes the demand of raw materials for new products.

Current lifestyle, particularly in weather societies, have increased the demand for convince and time -saving goods, and the demand for new products. This has led countries to generate huge quantity of solid waste and there is great potential for reducing much of this waste at sources in wealthier communities, particularly in industrialized countries. Some industries in industrialized countries now have formulated campaigns about waste minimization and hazard reduction. There are lows and policies favoring the reuse and recycling of products in industrialized countries. Extensive waste reduction strategies using traditional practices of repair, reuse, and waste trading and recycling by the informal sector, in poorer parts of the developing world, play a remarkable role in source reduction. In most countries the informal sectors is not part of the national management plants. For example, as in other developing countries, the recycling of solid waste materials from the waste stem is carried out at various stage in most of the urban areas in South Africa. The first stage is at individual household level, where Zama-zams separate refuse with a good market value, such as clean papers, bottles, containers, cloths, shoes, etc. This is needed to improve the environment safety of traditional practices of refuse, recycling and waste treading by the informal sectors.